Now that the election is over, a re-elected President Bush needs to start working on a four-year-old election promise that he never fulfilled.

In his first run for the presidency, Bush liked to say that he was "a uniter, not a divider."

Somewhere along the way, the thought never quite came into synchronization with the action. In the past four years, our country has grown more polarized than it has been in generations.

We've become a nation, not just of red state and blue states, but red people and blue people, with little room for or even acceptance of any middle ground.

Good government cannot long endure such a situation. No president, and no party, should have complete control over everything. Good government is the product of compromise, of finding common ground, of creating laws that can enjoy broad support.

It's exactly the sort of situation Bush said he wanted • a government that is unified for the betterment of the people, not divided in the service of one group or another.

The president has now won re-election. He has another four years to build a legacy of unity, four years in which he doesn't have to worry about re-election or catering to any group.

Four years can accomplish a lot, whether it's building bridges or building more walls.

This is not some pipe dream about the end of historic political divisions. But common ground can be found in even the most obvious regions of disagreement, such as the war in Iraq (we all want a peaceful, democratic Iraq and the safety of our troops) or the appointment of Supreme Court justices (we need jurists who are neither activists nor ideologues).

The loyal opposition, to borrow an idea from Britain, also has a role to play in this effort. Centrist Democrats like our state's own Sen. Blanche Lincoln and Rep. Mike Ross can start by reaching out to the administration to build some of that common ground. By offering their support whenever they can, these Democrats, once called the "Blue Dogs," can bring government policies back toward the middle, where most of us Americans really are, or want to be.